“Greed is good” was the maxim of Michael Douglas’s 1987 film Wall Street. Now his former wife appears to have taken the lesson to heart.
Diandra Douglas is suing the actor for half of his income from the new sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps — even though the couple divorced in 2000. The Oliver Stone film is due out in September, with Douglas reprising his role as Gordon Gekko — the self-styled “master of the universe”.
A lawyer for Ms Douglas, 52, said that under the couple’s reported $45 million (£30 million) divorce settlement she is entitled to her cut from any work he did during their 23-year marriage — including spin-offs. “It’s the same character, the same title, just years later,” Nancy Chemtob, who is representing Ms Douglas, told Manhattan Supreme Court judge Matthew Cooper at a hearing last week.
The couple’s marriage collapsed amid allegations that the Hollywood star was a sex addict who had cheated on his wife — including with her best friend. Douglas, 65, now credits Catherine Zeta-Jones, 40, whom he married in 2000, for taming his wild side. The couple have two children together — Dylan, 9, and Carys, 6.
“I’m probably more comfortable with myself now, probably not leading with my libido quite as strongly, which comes with age and happiness,” Douglas said in an interview with Esquire magazine.
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In recent months, Douglas has come into contact with his former wife again, as they grappled with drug charges against their son. Cameron Douglas, 31, was arrested in a room in a New York hotel last year for allegedly serving as a middleman in a deal to sell crystal meth. Two weeks later, he was arrested again, after his girlfriend allegedly tried to smuggle heroin to him in an electric toothbrush while he was under house arrest at his mother’s Upper East Side mansion.
Douglas, 31, was sentenced to five years in prison — but only after each parent had tried to place some blame for his troubles on the other.
Douglas Sr is not happy to be back in court with his former wife. “He doesn’t want her to be an albatross around his neck for ever,” his lawyer, Marilyn Chinitz, told the judge. Douglas argues that the new film is not a spin-off and asked for the court case to be dismissed.